Dark Forest, Bright Moon
by heavenlysky
Summary: Pre and post King Arthur shortfics, mostly centering around Gawain. [3. Second Rescue: How they met that dark night at the RomanBriton fort, or at least how he remembers it.]
1. After the Wedding

**Dark Forest, Bright Moon**

Some pre and post King Arthur drabbles, mostly featuring Gawain though it doesn't appear too obvious from this post. Some Gawain x OC, but also lots of just the Knights.

It's impossible to be both historically accurate and movie accurate at the same time so I've kept to the later, and leaned as much towards the former as possible.

Enjoy reading! Please review, it would be so much appreciated!

**1. **

**Title: **After the Wedding

**Characters:** Gawain, Galahad, Bors, Ganis, Jols

**Pairings: **A little GawainxOC, but mainly just humor LOL.

**Summary: **No one has any idea what's going on, but there's lots of alcohol so it's all good.

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Galahad thought it was completely confusing and utterly chaotic but it was all getting washed away in a tide of mead and music. The native Britons didn't speak Pictish and some of the Woads couldn't speak Scottish and so the two groups had resorted to a great deal of gestulating and mimicking to communicate. It was all in good humor though.

The Scots of the fort and the villages south of Hadrian's Wall had all known Arthur, or his legend at least, and had liked him for ages, and the Woads didn't look much threatening or much different either once they had washed off their blue paint.

And Guinevere, lo and behold, that skinny malnutritioned girl they'd rescued had turned out to be a Woadish Princess. So the Woads were happy too.

And the Romans were gone. The Saxons were gone. And everyone was piss-drunk. So happy times.

"He's a King then is he?" Bors said this knocking his mug of mead against the table. This was the fourth repeat in a matter of minutes and Gawain and Galahad exchanged an amused look. "That ain't a bad deal. You reckon he's got some land to give out? That's what a King does ain't it? I could do with a bit of land."

"Aye you could," Galahad had laughed, looking at the string of Bors' bastards playing in the grass. Bors growled at him but was too inebriated to get really angry.

"Maybe he'll make you a Duke," Gawain teased.

The humor was completely lost on Bors who lifted his head to the side and said, "Duke Bors. Hmm yess it has a nice ring."

Gawain choked on his drink and said spluttering, "That would make Vanora a Duchess won't it?" He wiped his mouth, grinning. "This New Age of Arthur's looking brighter by second."

"Hey over there!" It was Ganis, drunkenly oblivious to the fact that he had just interrupted Bors reaching over the table and hauling Gawain up by his mail coat. He struggled towards them though a reveling crowd under a red and gold sunset which turned the vast hills around them to fire. The boy was beet-red, like a tomato, and he grinned doltishly. The Knights exchanged amused glances.

"Yes what is it?" Gawain asked, appearing extremely nochalent about the fact that he was being attacked.

Ganis turned, whistled and flailed his arms about. "They're over here!"

Jols appeared soon enough, flanked – much to the Knights amusement – by three Woad girls. Gawain raised his eyebrows and Galahad laughed. They really were not bad looking after all that blue paint had been washed off.

"They 'erd about you," Jols explained sounding not too sober himself. "The great Samaritan Knights. Told 'em I'd help 'em find you. They're pretty ain't they? This one's Igerna. Oh wait, maybe it was the other one."

Galahad grinned as the pretty blond girl who was maybe Igerna recognized him and began pointing to her companions. Boldly they approached. Beside him Bors was laughing as he shoved an inebriated Ganis out of the way to make room for a brown headed girl. "This is the life!" He declared.

"Oh yes!" Ganis agreed, pumping his jug of mead into the air.

Gawain and Galahad blinked as he slumped over and began snoring. "Hopeless." Gawain said.

" 'poles' " Another girl, also brown, mimicked him. He raised his eyebrow at her. She grinned.

"So you're Igerna?" Galahad returned his attention to the blond girl.

She blinked. "Igerna?" She pointed to the brown headed girl who was now sitting on Gawain's lap. "I Glenys."

They were just getting comfortable when Galahad was distracted by a loud screech coming from beside him. He turned to see Igerna clutching her hair as a slime of meat and sauce slid down her to her face.

"Who do you think you are you blue-painted savage? Get off him unless you want more of where this came from. Eh? Feel like some salad then?"

Galahad recognized Gawain's dark headed woman. Pretty girl, he noted. Maybe because she was furious. Lancelot had once said that women wore anger well. The Scottish girl set down an empty plate of food (he hoped for Igerna's sake it wasn't leftovers) and picked up another threateningly. Igerna slid down the laughing Gawain's lap sulkily, muttering to the other brown haired Wood.

To Galahad's amusement, Gawain's dark-headed wench slapped him soundly, climbed into his lap, kissed him and then proceeded to yell at him for drinking so soon after she had just patched him up ("from shreds!") from the battle with the Saxons.

Bors was laughing loudly so with her arms still clutched protectively around Gawain she turned to look at him and said, "You know I think Vanora's coming this way. She's looking for you, you know."

"What, where? I thought she went to put Brice to bed." Bors cast a furtive gaze around. Seeing nothing of the sort, he turned back to Gawain's women who stuck her tongue out at him. "You little-"

"Now then Bors." A grinning Gawain held out a hand to arrest him. He picked up the dark headed girl bodily. "Well I'll be off then. Nice wedding." He strode off.

Galahad burst into laughter. Trust Gawain. On his lap Glenys said something that sounded like a question. He kissed her ample breasts. "Don't worry. I'm single!" He grinned at the two brown haired girls too. "More the merrier eh?" And all the better for him.

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Please review!


	2. That Other Lover

**Dark Forest, Bright Moon**

This one is more romance-centric, though not really because this is Gawain we're talking about LOL. Oh also, in case some of you were wondering the girls in the fort are Scottish. It's listed so in the credits of the film. Hadrian's Wall separated the Scots from the Picts (which are the Woads). I made a mistake in the previous chapter and it has been corrected.

Please review! It would be much appreciated!

**2. **

**Title: **That Other Lover

**Characters:** Gawain, OC (Though as a reviewer said, she's kind of not an OC as she has a shot in the film)

**Pairings: **GawainxOC

**Summary: **She wishes she could keep him.

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Again, he had heard that call.

The girl opened her eyes at the sound of the creaking on the other side of the bed. The moonlight immediately pierced her vision but she did not move, did not make a sound as she listened to the familiar sound of the sword being buckled, the boots being drawn on, the metallic clatter of the armor.

Footsteps as he rose. Then a faintly amused voice said, "I know you're awake."

If he had said anything remotely lover-like she would have flown into his arms but he did not, and she had already buried this hope or so she had thought. It came back to haunt her now and she hated herself for it. She made rigid her body and stared resolutely out of the window. The moonlight almost blinded her as she, childishly, let him know that she was angry with him.

Gawain chuckled. "I'll be back in a week or so. I'll bring you a new dress to make up for the other one." He flicked back a piece of her hair where it lay on her cheek. "See you, love."

He picked up his axe and disappeared out of the doorway to her room. He passed through the dark, dinghy hallway and opened the small wooden door to the outside. He paused then, turning a little over his shoulder with a grin on his lips.

There was the sound of rushing footsteps behind him and then suddenly she was upon him, covered in only the bed sheet, embracing him from behind.

He turned and picked her up, laughing. "It'll only be a week, love. Keep the fire warm and tell me if any of the men pester you or your sisters."

She had buried her face into the crook of his shoulder where his skin met the armor and all he could see was a mass of dark hair. He could feel her hot lips against his skin and her pale white legs clutched around him as she kissed him all over his face and neck furiously.

Outside Galahad and Bors were laughing loudly. These lusty Scottish wenches, so hard to manage

She drew back from him finally and stared at him with her great, dark eyes.

"Come back safe." She said. Then breathlessly, "I love you!"

Gawain smiled back. His blond mane: a mass of braids and hair shone in the moonlight. His face bright already with the scent of the impending battle. "Aye my girl."

He kissed her once loudly to the amusement of the other men and set her down on her bare feet. He lopped his axe over his shoulder and set off with Galahad, Bors and a few others. A few meters away the sound of impatient horses knawled at the ground.

She stood in the doorway wrapped in the bed sheet, watching his back. There was nothing she could do. It was a weakness she had demonstrated at the last moment but as she bit her lip now, she did not regret it. She knew she would feel much more remorse in the weeks to come (Gawain never told the truth about how long he was away) if she did not bid him farewell. He may not return to her.

_But_, she thought as she watched the Knights thunder away through the courtyard towards the great gates which were being hefted open for them. _He never did belong to me._

He rode towards his true love now: the glory and splendor of combat, the will and nill of battle. She prayed only that, that fickle mistress would keep him until she could see him once more.

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Please review and tell me your thoughts!


	3. Second Rescue

**Dark Forest, Bright Moon**

Oh dear, I've given in to the romance muse. Well it's not that sappy anyhow. Thank you to all the reviewers, its been really encouraging! For those that aren't that into romance and OCs, I promise next chapter will be more generic and manly!friendship-centric LOL.

Please review! It really makes all the difference.

**3. **

**Title: **Second Rescue

**Characters:** Gawain, OC (Adara)

**Pairings: **GawainxOC

**Summary: **How they met that dark night at the Roman-Briton fort, or at least how he remembers it.

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They met in a back alley one cold winters night as he was walking from the barracks towards the fort where he and the other Samartian Knights had living quarters just beyond Hadrian's wall. He had parted ways with Lancelot, Galahad and the others who no doubt had already gone down to the tavern. Bors had gone to his own house which he had set up with his red-headed woman.

The night was dark, the moon was bright. The stink of the Romanic-Briton fortress town rose into the air in these back alleys, the dirty sewage with no where to go, the beggars on the street pitifully dressed in rags, children with unknown parents and scars on their faces running about laughing but hungry.

Gawain walked leisurely and slowly, swinging his axe. A couple of people, eyeing the weapon, straggled out of his way.

At the end of the narrow stony alleyway with a few establishments, he saw two struggling shadows. A woman obviously, and a man who was treating her too roughly.

"Stop it you brute!" Her voice rang out in the darkness. Not a woman then, just a girl. "I said it and I mean it!"

She slapped him and kicked him. It was somewhere obviously vital because he groaned and sank to the ground. Gawain gave a short laugh, feeling a little sorry for the man. Next second she was stepping over him, trying to run away. She had almost passed Gawain when the man pushed himself forward on the ground and snagged her ankle. She went straight to the ground with a loud scream.

In the blink of an eye the man was upon her, tearing at her skirts, muffling her screaming.

Actually Gawain had already walked past them but he paused and exhaled quite loudly in exasperation. He wondered at himself sometimes. Arthur must be having more of an influence on him than he thought.

Axe still swinging he turned around and the next second the man, still tearing at the girl's clothes, found the cold blade of it next to his neck. He froze and then his gaze followed the stretch of the weapon, up into Gawain's eyes.

"If you have to then at least find a room," He informed the man, quite pleasantly. "There are children about."

The man looked as though he was speechless, torn between outrage and fear.

The girl saw an opening. "Please Sir! He's no right to me. I'm a free woman and unmarried."

"Shut up you whore!" The man spat at her. "You should've married me when you had the chance. You-"

He gasped as the blade cut deeper into his throat, nicking blood.

"Shhhh…" Gawain whispered close to his ear. "I would be more quiet if I were you." He looked up, somewhat wondering. "You, girl!"

The girl stared at him. "What?"

"What is your name?"

"A-Adara." She stammered.

"Well Adara what are you waiting for?" He mirrored her look of astonishment blandly. "Well, get up!"

Comphrehension dawned. She struggled to her feet and immediately put him between herself and her attacker. Gawain released him and the man got up as well, staring at the blond man balefully. He spat on the ground near Gawain's feet. "You'll hear about this, mark my words."

"If you like," Gawain said, not missing a beat. "I'm Gawain of the Samartian Knights. I would welcome a little sport any day of the week. But not today. I'm planning to get piss-drunk today and you're rather wasting my time."

The man paled and opened his mouth as if to say something, but rather thought better of it, turned his heel and stumbled away in a rather comical, deformed manner. The girl had obviously kicked him harder than Gawain thought.

He sighed, hefted his axe over his shoulder and made to walk away.

"Wait!"

Oh yes. He had forgotten the girl. He swerved around. "Yes?"

"Is it true? You're Gawain? Of the Samartian Knights?"

He had said so hadn't he? "Yes."

She came out of the darkness into a stretch of moonlight. "I know you." She said this and paused, staring at him with an expression of abject wonder. Then she smiled. "You saved my life. I'll find some way to repay you, I promise!"

She was rather pretty, he saw now. Slender and pale, she had masses of agreeable wavy dark hair and great dark eyes which were now staring at him worshipfully.

He paused again and inclined his head thinking for a minute. On second thought, perhaps less of Arthur had rubbed off on him than he thought. He turned fully around.

"Well Adara I can think of a good way." He grinned at her. "Would you like to try it?"

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Please review! I would love you forever 3 3


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